In most multimedia presentations available today there is at least some content that a viewer would prefer was not presented. A viewer may wish to avoid certain portions of a presentation for many reasons. For example, a viewer may wish to avoid portions of a movie containing violence or profanity. A viewer may wish to avoid presentation of politically or religiously objectionable portions of a news broadcast, or socially objectionable portions of a music video, for example. Or a viewer may simply wish to avoid portions of a multimedia presentation that are boring or uninteresting to the viewer. For example, many viewers of broadcast sporting events, such as football and baseball games, don't have time to watch the entire event at the exact time it is broadcast. In such cases, the viewer may wish to save time by viewing only the portions of interest in a broadcast, (i.e., action highlights, such as home run being hit or a football scoring drive or a brilliant defensive play).
Currently viewers have no way of separating such interesting portions of a presentation from the presentation without first viewing the complete presentation. In the case of sporting events, viewers may rely on sports summary shows for highlight replays, where a broadcaster edits the sports event and typically shows only a few seconds of each action sequence. Such edited presentation are often not sufficient to fully enjoy and appreciate the action of the event. In the case of the multimedia presentations, for example, news programs, concerts, etc., viewers may have no way of viewing only specified portions of a presentation.
Viewers may record multimedia presentations such as sporting events, news reports, concerts, or other programs in their entirely for presentation at a later time. While this allows viewers to avoid unwanted portions of a presentation, the viewer must also work through, at the least fast-forwarding through, all the uninteresting portions of the presentation.